What does the future hold for AM events?
Events are key for the additive manufacturing sector – they allow AM players and users to discover and share about the latest trends and developments in 3D printing. Of course, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, 3D printing events have been heavily affected. TCT Asia, scheduled to take place in February this year, was one of the first events to be postponed. Following that announcement, a growing number of events were postponed, including two of the biggest events for the sector, the AMUG Conference, and Rapid + TCT.
In this context, three companies, SME, Link3D and 3Dnatives, came together to offer a virtual event for the additive manufacturing sector. DAMM2020, also known as the 26.2-hour Digital Additive Manufacturing Marathon, was a first for the industry. In times of social distancing, it appeared clear to us that people still needed a platform to share, connect and learn about AM. Therefore, the intention with DAMM2020 was to deliver exactly this to a global audience – basically, an event that would be free and accessible to anyone across multiple time zones.
DAMM2020, which took place on the 27th of April, surpassed expectations to say the least. Announced to take place 3 weeks prior to the event date, it’s 3,401 professionals from 1,458 different companies that registered to attend! The event consisted of more than 40 presentations from industry leaders, broken up by 30-minute networking sessions throughout. The aim was to provide dynamic and instructive information accessible from home, whilst retaining the networking opportunities that are key to physical events’ success.
Given that the event was online, attendees were free to roam on 8 “floors” that displayed tables – 152 to be exact. Each table could allocate up to 6 people. As expected, attendees came from all over the world. The biggest number coming from the US (42%), Germany (9%) and India (7.5%). The virtual AM marathon sparked interest from multiple sectors known to work with additive manufacturing. After collecting some feedback on the event, machine manufacturers and aerospace were found to be the two industries with the largest number of attendees.
The success of DAMM2020 showcases that virtual events can fill a gap in these uncertain times. Nevertheless, this new format could do well beyond the COVID-19 pandemic as it presents some benefits over physical events. “An excellent “virtual” meeting of minds in the Additive Manufacturing sector that covered a wide range of topics in a marathon of an event. The most valuable take-out for me was the Ryan Palmer (HP) presentation covering what the COVID-19 crisis has taught us about the agility that AM offers to pivot production quickly in times of supply chain stress,” one attendee told us.
Another attendee added, “DAMM 2020 was a glimpse into the future of tradeshows. The audience was relevant, the conference content was rich, and the ability to network with leaders in the industry in the comfort of my laptop was unprecedented.” So, is this the future of tradeshows? Finally, we leave you with 3 fun facts about the event!
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